Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup against Red Star Belgrade exposed Mikel Arteta’s stubbornness in team selection.
Manchester City, like Arsenal, was merely playing their Champions League-Match Day 6 fixture for show (just like Arsenal), because they had already assured themselves that they would top the group even if they lost their last group game, thus having already secured a spot in the round of 16.
That being said, Guardiola did not do what Mikel Arteta said he would do in that encounter.
Ethan Nwaneri, 16, Reuell Walters, 18, and Lino Sousa, 18, were all included in Arsenal’s matchday squad for the match against PSV but did not play.
Mikel Arteta intimated that he might give Arsenal youth a chance against PSV, saying, “Three big prospects. We want to bring a lot of players from a system and they deserve to be here. The circumstances have got them into this position. They’re still really really young but we want to get them the experience because they have the talent hopefully to be very close to us. We’ll try to give them the opportunity if we can in the right moment.” but he didn’t.
Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, was not afraid to give young Manchester City players a chance. He gave Oscar Bobb, 20, and Mica Hamilton, 20, the pleasure of starting, and he also gave Mahamadou Susoho, 18, a chance to see out the game as a 75th-minute sub. Notably, Hamilton and Bobb both scored.
If Arsenal is to unleash another Bukayo Saka, Mikel Arteta must be bold enough to play academy stars in games like the one against PSV, which was a dead rubber. Giving minutes to Cedric Soares and Mohammed Elneny when they could be on their way out and disregarding players who could be the future doesn’t make sense. After a difficult match against Aston Villa, Arsenal could have benefited from resting key players like William Saliba and not having to rely on Declan Rice, but that was not the case. I hope Mikel Arteta loosens up on his squad selection rigidity.
Daniel O
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